Labour in different forms has been a central tenet in most carceral systems from the early modern houses of correction and up until today. At the same time, the central feature of the welfare state that developed during the post-Second World War decades was labour or, to quote one of Sweden’s most well-known political economists, “work has been the cement of the Swedish welfare state. In the following I will discuss the connection between labour and the Swedish prisons in the post-Second World War decades. More precisely, I will argue that the real character of the much-talked-about Swedish prison reforms in this period cannot be understood unless one takes into account the central role given to labour. Furthermore, a closer look at the role given to labour will also contribute to a more general discussion about whether we can talk about a special Swedish (or Scandinavian) model for penal reform.

Att bli omhändertagen av samhället är ett djupt ingrepp i en människas liv. De individuella mötena med anstalten uppmärksammas sällan, men i Inspärradfår vi följa personer som varit intagna på sinnessjukhus, sanatorier, fängelser, uppfostrings- och alkoholistanstalter i Sverige någon gång mellan 1850 och 1992. Genom att ta del av de intagnas berättelser får vi kunskap om hur de förhållit sig till sin situation och sin omvärld, såväl innanför som utanför anstaltens väggar.

Författarna är forskare i skilda discipliner och möts i sitt engagemang för den inspärrades röst. Genom att även höja blicken från de enskilda fallen fångar skribenterna också in övergripande drag och samhälleliga strukturer. I centrum för studierna står uttryck för makt och motstånd, förhandling, identiteter och strategier. Skribenterna belyser de intagnas erfarenheter och vill med dessa exempel utveckla ett forskningsfält som fått förnyad aktualitet.

It is one of criminology’s (few) established truths that women commit far fewer violent crimes than men do. This has been especially evident when it comes to deadly violence. Besides witchcraft and infanticide there is, however, another serious crime that has been associated with women: poisoning. This article studies female poisoners in 19th-century Sweden. The investigation shows that poisonings were fairly common during this period, albeit far from being an exclusively female affair. The empirical findings reveal that these crimes were directed at several different categories of victims: spouses, children and elderly household members, as well as other women. It is also shown that a considerable number of the women accused of poisoning was acquitted, in many cases thanks to the strict process rules associated with the statutory theory of legal proof. Theoretically, the article hypothesizes an understanding of these poisonings where agency is placed at the centre. They are thus seen as acts where (female) subjectivity was created during this period.